Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for your continued support. On Wednesday I issued all parents a letter reference the annual Leigh Academies Trust survey which is due to go live on Monday 29th January. Within the letter I highlighted many of the changes that we have made as we continue to strive towards excellence. Please do take a moment to review the progress we are making at Strood Academy. The letter is attached here.

On Thursday we look forward to welcoming Year 10 parents/carers to the academy. Parents evening starts at 4pm. Please access the letter here. Should you have any questions or queries please contact your child’s college. 

Over the past week we have received a couple of complaints from local residents during pick up time, this is relating to parking. Please could I ask parents to park safely and ensure we are working with the local community at all times. Thank you for your understanding and support. 

Before the Christmas break I asked parents/carers to provide their specific choice of entrance/exit to the academy. When reviewing the data, Copperhouse Road was a popular choice amongst a large percentage of parents/carers. Since this point we have taken out a thorough review of the local area, including a consultation with local residents and many observations of this area during peak times. With Bligh Primary School backing onto this area the parking and traffic is particularly busy and should we decide to open this gate we believe this would cause a greater health and safety risk to our pupils and local community. We have completed our own assessments and for the time being we will continue to use the Carnation Road main entrance and exit. We will of course continue to review other options including that of Scholars Rise. We will keep you informed should anything change. 

This week our college assemblies have been led by Mr Harpur which have been led on the Holocaust memorial day which is on Saturday 27th January. Mr Harpur is an expert in this field and delivered an important and powerful message sharing key historical facts. We thank Mr Harpur for delivering this to our college communities. 

On Monday we welcome our CEO and Academies Director to Strood Academy for a visit. We enjoy opening our doors and working with our Trust executives to ensure we always improve and reflect upon our practices. I look forward to sharing the feedback with you in due course.

Have a restful weekend and we look forward to seeing all pupils back in the academy on Monday morning. A reminder that the main gate closes at 8:30 and pupils must be on site by this point. 

Thank you once again for your continued support.

Regards

Mr Jon Richardson 

Principal

STRUCTURE OF THE DAY 

ATTENDANCE

Since coming back after the Christmas holidays, we have come together as a community to reflect on all we have achieved so far. This includes:

• Introducing and embedding routines for students such as morning line ups, the assembly protocol and focusing on transitions around the academy building; encouraging students are moving between lessons with pace and purpose and ensuring all students feel safe when moving around the academy

• Focusing on combating 'Culture Killers' such as poor uniform standards, litter around the academy, use of foul and inappropriate language and body language within lessons; ensuring all students are presenting as focused and ready to learn

• Implementing a standardised homework policy across the academy, where students are aware of the expectations around homework as well as the importance of this 

• Promoting students' extra curricular interests and hobbies through a range of lunchtime and after school clubs and activities

• Improving relations with parents, carers and the local community through information shared social media platforms and in Weekly Parent Bulletins

• Further improving communication with parents and carers through events such as face-to-face Parents Evenings, Year 7 Meet the Form Tutor, Parent Voice Forums and Parental Drop-Ins as well as tools such as 'Request Call Back' button and college-specific email addresses

We are immensely proud of the progress we have made so far, and while acknowledging that we are still at the very beginning of our Vision 2028 journey, we are looking forward to the successes we will continue to achieve along the way.